Electrostatic discharge protection apparatus

摘要

An electrostatic discharge (ESD)-triggered protection apparatus includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit includes an ESD trigger circuit to sense an ESD pulse and to generate a switching pulse responsive to the ESD pulse; a first ESD discharge device communicatively coupled to the ESD trigger circuit and responsive to the switching pulse to transfer a current generated by the ESD pulse to the ground rail; a control circuit that generates a control signal in response to the switching pulse. The second circuit includes at least one trigger cell buffer that is configured to receive the control signal and to control a second ESD discharge device such that the current generated by the ESD pulse is transferred to the ground rail.

主权项

1. An electrostatic discharge (ESD)-triggered protection apparatus, comprising:
a first circuit comprising:
an ESD trigger circuit to sense an ESD pulse and to generate a switching pulse responsive to the ESD pulse;a first ESD discharge device communicatively coupled to the ESD trigger circuit and responsive to the switching pulse to transfer a current generated by the ESD pulse to a ground rail;a control circuit that generates a control signal in response to the switching pulse;at least one inverting buffer communicatively coupled between the ESD trigger circuit and the first ESD discharge device to propagate the switching pulse from the ESD trigger circuit to the first ESD discharge device, wherein the at least one inverting buffer further includes first, second, and third inverters, each inverter comprising a PMOS transistor coupled to a VDD voltage rail and an NMOS transistor coupled to the ground rail, the NMOS transistor associated with the third inverter having a long, narrow-width channel to provide resistance characteristics; and a second circuit comprising:
at least one trigger cell buffer that is configured to receive the control signal and to control a second ESD discharge device such that the current generated by the ESD pulse is transferred to the ground rail.